Year of the Bike

It appears that the City of Santa Monica is continuing to warm up to the attibutes of the bicycle and is making efforts to promote it's use.

The City of Santa Monica hosts an annual event in Santa Monica called the Santa Monica Festival. And in most years past this event is kicked off with a parade which usually has consisted of various community groups, schools, and others walking from one of the local Santa Monica schools to Clover Park. The folks in the parade often dress in costumes. Some are playing musical instruments of various sorts. Some are dancing, etc.

This year the organizers of the Santa Monica Festival have decided to make the theme of this year's Santa Monica Festival (2007) into a Bicycle parade as primary focus, in addition to an element of participants afoot.

Here is what you can see at the Santa Monica Festival 2007 main page(via LINK):

Biking at the 2007 Festival

The Santa Monica Festival 2007 will serve as the kickoff date for the new Santa Monica Active Living campaign, Bike Santa Monica. People wishing to ride their bikes to the festival will not only avoid the hassle of parking but will also be provided with a free valet service where you can safely leave your bicycle and attend the Festival knowing that your bike will be secure in a convenient location. Be sure to visit the Active Living Booth to pick up a new biking map for Santa Monica and other biking information.

Bikers are also invited to join in on the Festival Bicycle Parade to Clover Park on the morning of the 20th. Cyclists will meet at Grant Elementary School, 2368 Pearl Street between 8:00 and 9:30 am. A local artist will lead a workshop to create decorative flags and other items for bikes and helmets. At 9:30, all bikers will gather for a bike parade to the park under the guidance of officers from the Santa Monica Police Department who will point out tips for safe biking on city streets along the way. Participants must register and sign waiver forms on site and please, no children without adult supervision. Registration forms will also be available in the special Santa Monica Festival issue of SeaScape, the city's quarterly newsletter, which will be distributed in the first week of May.

Parking and Transportation

Clover Park is located at 2600 Ocean Park Blvd., between Cloverfield Blvd. and 28th Street. Free and ample parking is available, but festival goers are encouraged to take public transportation, bicycle or walk.
Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus line #8 serves Clover Park.

Accessibility

Clover Park is wheelchair accessible. For assistance with accessibility accommodations, contact the Cultural Affairs Division at (310) 458-8350; TTY (310) 458-8696; or smarts@smgov.net. For more Festival info, visit www.arts.santa-monica.org. All events are free and scheduled rain or shine.

What I am curious about is what ever happened to "Walk Santa Monica" and the cities community contest to find the best places to walk in Santa Monica, that was held last year. As of to date, I have received no word on which walking routes won.

In any case, this bicycle parade and bicycle decorating workshop may be interesting.

I welcom your feedback.